Hardhat Tour of Daniels' Cinema Tower

One of the many high-rise condominium projects sprouting from Toronto’s Entertainment District, The Daniels Corporation’s Cinema Tower officially topped off at 43 floors just over a month ago, and we were there to cover it. This past Wednesday, an unseasonably warm and hazy afternoon, we were fortunate enough to be invited back to the Cinema Tower to take an extensive tour of the building, along with Ingrid Grittani, project manager for Cinema Tower, Sam Tassone VP of Construction at Daniels, Simona Annibale, VP of Marketing at Daniels, and David Eisenstadt of the Communication Group. With the sun racing towards the horizon across the November sky, we briskly made our way to the roof where we were greeted by a sea of rebar and concrete drenched in the spectacular late autumn sun.

Rebar at the base of the tower crane, looking north from roof of Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Rebar and pipes in place, looking east from the roof of Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Despite the fact that the Kirkor-designed tower topped off six weeks ago, the roof is still a very busy construction zone with plenty of work left to do. The HVAC unit (heating ventilation and air conditioning) was recently installed and the 43rd floor is now being used as a staging area for the work currently underway on the mechanical floor above.

Staging area on west side of Cinema Tower's roof, image by Jack Landau

The elevator control room, located on the 44th floor (one floor above the highest suites), is now in the hands of subcontractors who have just 16 weeks to install the first of four elevators, with the remaining three following in two-week intervals. Rails for the elevators are being built from the ground up, with work now reaching the 30th floor. Working elevators are a necessity in any functioning high-rise, so great care is being taken to ensure that everything is ready to go for expected occupancy date of July 2013.

Cinema Tower's elevator control room, image by Jack Landau

Before making our way down the stairs to our next stop, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take in some of the magnificent views, made even more unique by the blanket of haze engulfing the city. The views themselves haven’t changed much since our last visit in October, but the irregular atmospheric conditions that day made the following photos impossible to omit:

Looking northeast from atop Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Looking east from the roof of Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Looking west from the roof of Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Southern view from the roof of Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Moving on, we make our descent from the roof down to the 39th floor. Before boarding the construction hoist to take us down to our next stop, we paused briefly to document workers installing window-wall cladding on what will eventually be an east facing living room.

Workers installing cladding on 39th floor, image by Jack Landau

Recently installed cladding on the east side of Cinema Tower, image by Jack Landau

Arriving on the sixth floor, we were met with an unexpected surprise — a striking hallway clad in antique red brick welcomed us to Cinema Tower’s amenity level. The bricks themselves are over a century old, and were salvaged from the two buildings which previously occupied the site where the tower now stands.

Historic red brick applied to 6th floor hallway, image by Jack Landau

The amenities found on the sixth floor will include a lounge atop the podium roof, a screening room where residents will have access to exclusive TIFF programming, a sauna and hot tub, change rooms, fitness room and a full basketball court.

Cinema Tower's movie screening room, image by Jack Landau

Currently used as a staging area, this area above the podium will soon become the lounge, image by Jack Landau

Future changerooms and sauna, image by Jack Landau

Future full basketball court, image by Jack Landau

This area will house the fitness/workout room, image by Jack Landau

For additional renders and information, please check out our dataBase, linked below. If you want to join the conversation, or just keep up to date on construction, take a look at the related thread on our forum.